Double-gourd shaped Aesthetic Movement style vase with a bent neck and indentations to the body;
mottled and streaked glaze.
This vase is clearly marked SALOPIAN and for comparison is shown with a remarkably similar vase (right) designed c.1880 by Dr Christopher Dresser for Linthorpe Pottery, Middlesbrough, then in Yorkshire. The shape is possibly derived from a Japanese sake bottle. Linthorpe Pottery went into liquidation in 1890, after which its moulds were sold off. Many of the moulds went to Ault Pottery, Swadlincote, Derbyshire, where they continued to be used throughout the 1890s.
This is the only known example of this shape to be marked SALOPIAN. It raises questions:
• Did a Linthorpe mould find its way to the Benthall Pottery Company?
• Did the Benthall Pottery Company make its own version of a Linthorpe shape?
Mark: Impressed SALOPIAN mark
Height: 190mm / 7.5in
Provenance: (1) R&S Edmundson Collection, UK (to 2015); (2) Private collection, UK
Source of image for Linthorpe vase: © historicaldesign.com
Examples from the John Scott collection of decorative art designed by Dr Christopher Dresser can be seen here: Linthorpe vase (nos. 63 & 64)